Leinster player ratings vs Leicester | 2023 Champions Cup

Leinster player ratings: Leo Cullen’s Leinster came into this one with heavy favourites against a Leicester Tigers side that have had their fair share of ups and downs since Steve Borthwick departed for the England job in December.

The truth is that it’s generally been a closely contested fixture over the years, with Leinster winning seven of their 12 previous matches in the competition. With that said Leinster certainly edge it on the scoreboard, with an average of 42.8 points a game to Leicester’s 26.4 in head-to-heads.

The 55-24 full-time scoreline flattered Leinster and did a disservice to an ultra-physical Tigers outfit, but scorelines aside, there were some sublime individual performances on show at the Aviva.

LEINSTER:
15. Hugo Keenan – 8.5
His tap-back to win the kick-off reception was straight out of the Sevens circuit playbook and it lead to Leinster’s first try.  Riverdance-d his way through the Leicester cover defence when on the ball and was supreme in the air. Just a joy to behold.

14. Jimmy O’Brien – 8.5
Ran Leicester ragged. A super impressive first half from the former Sevens man saw him seemingly beating Tigers defenders at will. He kept it up in the second and probably totalled around 200 metres by the end of it.

13. Garry Ringrose – 9.5
Despite returning from an injury layoff was whip-smart from the start, with two tries to his name within the first 16 minutes. Looked totally pumped for this one, giving off industrial levels of alpha energy in the Leinster midfield. Harry Potter will be having nightmares about this one.

12. Robbie Henshaw – 7
Starting to find form after his own layoff, he linked up superbly with Ringrose. The pair share the sort of telepathic chemistry that’s normally reserved for identical twins.

11. James Lowe – 7
Got through a tonne of work and looks far fitter than the Lowe that received such heavy criticism two seasons ago. A busy evening ended on a bum note when he appeared to injure himself celebrating Jamieson Gibson-Park’s try.

10. Ross Byrne – 6
Needlessly loose at times, notably an ill-judged and executed chip-over attempt in the 24th minute with Leinster on the counterattack and sloppy offload that saw Potter conjure up a late try from 50 metres out. Accurate from the kicking tee and as Donal Lenihan suggested in RTE commentary, was ‘quietly efficient’ throughout. Seems to be enjoying himself out there which is encouraging to see.

9. Jamison Gibson-Park – 6.5
A decent service from the scrumhalf who had at times to deal with his fair share of errant Tigers paws at the breakdown.

1. Andrew Porter – 8
Tigers made a point of getting into Porter with some rough stuff, but he handled it and edged the scrum battle with Joe Heyes. Plenty of effective carries as the Tigers’ lifeforce began to wain.

2. Dan Sheehan- 7
Says something that he lost his first lineout throw of the tournament in the 19th minute – which he wasn’t at fault for. He didn’t score two tries which you’d be forgiven for thinking ranks as an abject failure for Sheehan these days.

3. Tadhg Furlong – 6
Another man with a target on his back, Furlong struggled to make hard yardage against the Tigers’ macho-man defence.

4. Ross Molony – 6
A quietly competent shift from Molony, who had his hands full with a game Leicester pack.

5. James Ryan – 7.5
Was running hot, giving as good as he got in an interpersonal battle with Jasper Wiese and co. Struggled to make inroads with ball in hand.

6. Ryan Baird – NA
Sadly only made it 21 minutes before being taken off for what looked like a significant injury.

7. Caelan Doris – 6
Possibly guilty of a bit of complacency in the physicality stakes, with the Tigers’ back row edging the unit battle with himself, Baird and Conan. Improved in the second half, even if he did pick up a yellow for his troubles.

8. Jack Conan – 6
A relatively quiet shift from Conan and – as with Doris –  was beaten for grunt by the English loose forwards in the first half, even if they did run out of steam in the second.

REPLACEMENTS – 7.5: Scott Penny was the pick of the bunch here, proving that nuggety opensides still exist and can be extremely effective. He could yet make the plane for France later this year. Close behind was John McKee, who looked handy and had a try to prove it. Michael Ala’alatoa was solid when he came on, while there were a few nice touches for Ciaran Frawley and Harry Byrne.